The countless hours spent hunting for open positions and filling out job applications can be fraught with disappointment and frustration. Editing a resume over and over and writing one cover letter after another can feel like fruitless endeavors.

But help is on the horizon for Silicon Valley residents. The Santa Clara County Library is hosting a series of employment workshops in February led by Amy Brumgard, a career placement adviser with West Valley College, and Marcia Stein, a human resources consultant.

Although attending one of the four workshops won’t guarantee a job, Brumgard and Stein said they hope people will learn new ways to help them on their path to employment.

The workshops will cover various topics of concern for job seekers, such as the pulse of the current job market, along with rÂŽsumÂŽ and interviewing tips.

Brumgard said she would like people to walk out of the workshops understanding that there isn’t anything wrong with them if they’ve filled out 50 applications and have heard nothing back.

“It isn’t necessarily you, the applicant,” Brumgard said. “It’s the job market.” And the job market can be unforgiving. Whether someone’s sent out 50 or 100 rÂŽsumÂŽs, it just takes time.

“It all depends on who you are. There are jobs out there. There have been all along. The challenge is that there are many more people looking for jobs, so companies can be more selective,” Brumgard said.

One way job seekers can stay ahead of the pack is by brushing up on the skills they deem important enough to list on their rÂŽsumÂŽs. And with layoffs a very real part of life, those still employed should do the same, Brumgard said.

“The world is changing so rapidly. You want to stay on top of the wave. You don’t want to end up caught in the curl or underneath it,” she said.

It’s a given that people will have multiple careers throughout their lives, Brumgard said, but people should still decide what it is they truly want to do.

Instead of throwing out rÂŽsumÂŽ after rÂŽsumÂŽ in the hope that something will stick, job seekers should figure out where they see their career going and begin to do the necessary research to achieve that goal. That way people have a clearer vision of what they want and are more prepared when they go in for an interview, Brumgard said.

And being prepared for a job interview is key, Stein said.

“It isn’t something new,” she said. “If a company has its choice among a wide array of qualified candidates, shouldn’t you be prepared?” Stein said that many people walk into an interview without refreshing themselves on their own backgrounds. Job seekers become so overwhelmed with the process of looking for an interview that when they finally receive one, they’re unprepared.

People should also look over a company’s website before going in for their interview, Stein said.

“If you’re going into an interview and you haven’t looked at the company’s website, that’s just unprofessional,” she said.

The Campbell Library, 77 Harrison Ave., will host a workshop on Feb. 6 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Saratoga Library, 13650 Saratoga Ave., will host a workshop on Feb. 24 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.santaclaracountylib.org.

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